Geoege cbosby



(No Model.)

G. CROSBY & E. M. POX.

GAS AND ELEOTRIG LAMP FIXTURE. No. 248,406. Patented Oct. 18,1881.

WITNESSES ATTORNEYS.

STATES UNTTE PATENT EErcE.

GEORGE CROSBY, OF NEW YORK, AND EDWIN M. FOX, OF BROOKLYN, ASSIGN- ORS TO THE AMERICAN ELECTRIC LIGHT COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y;

GAS AND ELECTRIC-LAMP FIXTURE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 248,406, dated October 18, 1881.

(No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, GEORGE (JROsBY, of New York city, and EDWIN M. Fox, of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York,have invented a newand Improved Combined Gas and Electric-Lamp Fixture; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in

which- Figurel is a sectional view of a combined gas and electric light fixture with a terminal cup adapted to receive an electric lamp. Fig.

2 is a sectional view of the end of the fixture fitted with an ordinary gasburner. Fig. 3 is a section through the line or 00 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a section through the line 3 y of Fig. 1.

The object of our invention is to provide a fixture which shall be equallyapplicable to the use of gas or the electric light. A device of this kind is a great desideratum in this new era of the electric light, for the reason that consumers can have the satisfaction of knowing, after testing the electric light, that if they desire to go back to the use of gas again they can do so without any additional expense involved in a further change of fixtures. Moreover, this device enables the consumer to use o at will either gas or electric light, with little or no change in the adjustment of the parts, and with no more complicated manipulation than that ordinarily required for gas.

Our invention consists in providing an ordi- 5 nary gas bracket or pipe with two circuit-wires carried within the pipe, and providing at the gascock such connections and insulations that the current shall be cut off when the cock is turned in one direction and turned on when the 4c cock is turned in the other direction, without interfering with the turning off or on of the gas through the same cock.

It also consists in providing such connections and insulations at the burner as will per- 5 wit a cup or socket with contact-points for the electric lamp to be screwed onto the dischargenozzle and connect with the circuit wires to give an electric light, or will permit an ordinary gas-burner to be screwed onto such nozale to allow the use of gas, as will be hereinafter more fully described.

In the drawings, A represents an ordinary gas-bracket provided with a cock, B. This cock is arranged to turn in a hub or casting,

a, with which the sections of the pipe connect in the usual manner, and said cock is provided with a perforation, g, (see Fig. 3,) through which the gas may pass when this perforation is in line with the pipe, and which, when turned a quarter of a revolution, passes out of regis- 6o tration with the pipe and cuts off the gas.

Within the pipe A are arranged two circuitwires, 1) and c, which are properly insulated and coated with parafiine or other substance capable of resisting the action of the gas. Now, to provide means for controlling the electric current through these wires, theyare broken or interrupted at the gas-cock B,'and their ends terminate in metal contact-blocks d d and c e, which are pressed against the cockB by a backing-spring of soft rubber or metal, and which contact-blocks are suitably insulated from the metal hub a by a casing of hard rubber.

, The cock B we make of some non-conducting material, such as vulcanized rubber, and in it we place, on each side of its gas-orifice 9, metal bars ff, which are arranged in the planes of the contact-blocks 01 d and e c. When the gascock is in the position shown in Fig. 3 gas can pass through the orifice g, and electrical 8o connection between the wires 1) and c is broken by the contact-blocks d and e resting upon the non-conductin g surface of the plug of the cock, as in Figs. 1 and 4.. When, however, the gascock is turned a quarter of a revolution, the metal bars f on each side make electrical connection between the terminal blocks d d and e e of each wire, and the current is allowed to pass to the burnera'nd through the electriclamp.

It will thus be seen that the same cock is made to turn on either the gas or the electrical current, the only difference being that the movement necessary to turn the electric light on or off is exactly reverse to that necessary to produce the same result with gas. 9 3

For fitting the burner end of the bracket for the use ofeither gas or the electric light, a nonconducting plate, I), of rubber or other suitable material, is fastened upon the end of the brackctpipe A, and the wires 1) c are made to I00 pass through the same and terminate in two metal face-plates, b c, on the top. Centrally within this insulating-plate D is arranged a screw-nozzle, k, which nozzle mayreceive either a non-conducting socket, O, for the electric lamp, as shown in Fig. 1, or an ordinary gasburner, E, as in Fig.2.

When the gas-burneris used as in Fig. 2 the electric current is supposed to be out 011' from the wires of the house, and when the socket O is used the gas is supposed to be cut off at the meter.

The non-conductingsocketG, which is screwed upon nozzle It, has upon its lower edge a couple of metal plates that rest upon the terminal contacts I) c,and connect also with wires i t embedded in the socket (J, and running up to the contact-plates h h, which are exposed on opposite sides of the interior wall of the socket, so that when the lamp is deposited in said socketits contact-plates connect with thepiates h h, and allow the current to be transmitted through the carbon or burner to produce the desired light.

In making use of our invention we do not limit ourselves to any particular shape or style of fixture, but propose to use it for brackets, drops, cha ndeliers,orin anyother form in which it has been customary to use gas.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new is 1. A combined gas and electric-light fixture consisting of a pipe containing two insulated circuit-wires with interchangeable burners for the ends of the pipe for the electric light or gas, combined with a single cock or plug-vaWe, arranged as described, to control the flow of gas or the electric current, as desired.

2. A combined gas and electric-light fixture consisting of a pipe with two insulated circuitwires, and a non-conducting cock or plug having a gas-orifice through the same placed in a. break or an interruption of the circuit-wires, and having a metal connection for closing the break in the circuit by a rotary movement of the cock, substantially as described.

3. A combined gas and electric-light fixture consisting of a pipe with two insulated circuitwires running to the end of the same, and having con tact'faces on an insulating plate or cover, and a screw-nozzle communicating with the interior of the pipe, and adapted to receive the interchangeable burner and socket, as described.

4. The combination of the gas-pipe, the insulated wires 7) and 0, having lnsulated contact-plates (1 d and e c disconnected from each other, and the non-conducting cook or plug B, having a gas-orifice, g, and metal bars ff, arranged in the plane of the wire contacts, substantially as and for the purpose described.

5. The combination of the gas-pipe, the insulating plate D, the wires 0 and 0, having contact-faces b c, the screw-nozzle Ir, opening into the gas-pipe, and the nonconducting socket 0, having contact-plates h h, wires t', and plates at their lower ends adapted toinake electrical connection with the faces b c, as and for the purpose described.

GEORGE CROSBY. EDWIN M. FOX.

Vitnesses:

HENRY K. THOMAS, WM. MoMAHoN. 

